This is the first part of a short story I am writing for ElfieRae for her birthday. At the moment it's only three parts, but it could become more. I don't know much about guns but she likes that sort of stuff, so I've tried my best!

The steel staircase did nothing to conceal his footsteps as Sasuke Uchiha descended them, his loosely-laced Doc Marten's striking each step like a guitar string that reverberated throughout the stairwell rather than a jarring clang. A vapour trail of smoke followed behind him, the cigarette between his lips burning brightly in the dusky dimness.

Two long, pale fingers curled around the smoke as he reached the bottom, taking it from his mouth before dropping it to the floor, crushing it out beneath his boot and then opening the door before him, stepping into the brightly lit shooting gallery.

It was early in the morning, and much to his pleasure, the room was empty. A small smirk present, he set his SLP.40 on the table and proceeded to set the range up with targets, taking his time and whistling in a slightly eerie way that echoed around the cavernous room.

As he fixed the targets up, chewing gum to take his mind off his nicotine addiction, he mused on how long he would have to himself before other people arrived. It was barely seven in the morning, but there were a few other early risers in the organisation who could turn up soon. It wasn't that he hated people, and granted, his ear protection would pretty much isolate him from others in the room anyway, but Sasuke just preferred working in the knowledge that he wasn't being watched.

It was the main reason why he detested having a partner, and if it weren't for the fact that he wouldn't have a job if he refused, he wouldn't do any of his jobs with Kiba at all. As it was, Kiba was very good at his job, if a little on the annoying side, and he had gotten Sasuke out of some tight spots before.

Still, it was nice to shoot without the idiot breathing down his neck for once. Quite literally.

His preparations done, Sasuke made his way back to the booths and grabbed himself a set of ear plugs and a pair of mufflers, putting them both on before picking up his pistol and grabbing a few pre-loaded magazines from his cargo pants.

Approaching the barrier he loaded the gun, feeling the familiar ice-cold adrenaline surging through his fingertips as he felt the clip lock into place. The feeling spread up his arms and across his back between his shoulders before shooting down his spine and into his legs, which he parted at shoulder width as he took his stance.

Taking a deep breath, he hit the start button for the mechanism to begin and immediately raised his right arm, the gun settled comfortably in his hand and pointing down the range. Though he couldn't hear it, he knew the mechanism was whirring as the chains clicked into place, and then the first target dropped down at the closest mark range, a silhouette of a man's head and chest.

Sasuke put a bullet in his forehead and then his chest and immediately re-trained his sight on the next target, which had dropped down a little further away and was now sliding at quite a speed to the right. His first shot went through the throat, but he put another round in the head for good measure.

As his hand automatically took the shots, squeezing the trigger rhythmically whilst his arm and legs absorbed the recoil, Sasuke felt a blanket of cool emptiness washing over his mind, clearing it of his thoughts and concerns and allowing him to just relax in the moment of doing what he did best – shooting the fuck out of shit.

The first round of targets were annihilated far quicker than he expected however, snapping him out of his trance as the still smoking papers were wheeled to the front, where he pulled them down and inspected his work, removing his ear protection for a moment. He had made fatal shots in all of them, although the last two had "injuries" that could quite easily not kill someone if they were big enough and wearing the right protection. Which pissed him off, because he aimed to terminate every time.

"You know, if you stopped squinting your left eye as the targets got harder, you'd make those shots easily."

Sasuke didn't jump at the unexpected voice, but he did whip around, having not known that anybody was there. To his annoyance (and mild surprise), his partner was leaning against the back table with a toothy grin on his tanned face, his own pistol twirling around his finger.

"I don't need shooting advice from the likes of you, Inuzuka," Sasuke spat, turning back to the range and pressing the switch that lined the mechanism up for the next set of targets he had set up. Removing the wasted clip, he inserted a new one with a snap, popping his gum irately.

Warmth at his back and hot breath on his neck send a shiver through his whole body as Kiba set the earmuffs back on his head before grabbing a pair for himself that disappeared out of Sasuke's line of vision when his partner put them on. And then heated, large hands slid down his bare arms, the right one curling around his own that was clasped on the pistol and the other directing his left to press the start switch.

The first target dropped down and Kiba's arm followed Sasuke's fluidly, not controlling the Uchiha's movements but merely tailing them for the moment. Sasuke took out the first target with ease, switching to the second and trying to ignore Kiba's warm presence that was so contradictory his usual cool adrenaline rush.

The short line of victims was annihilated with ease, and the final target dropped down at the very back, moving from side to side at quite a speed. Sasuke's hand followed the movement of it, and he was about to take his shot when Kiba nudged his wrist the tiniest bit the left, and Sasuke realised that his left eye was indeed squeezed almost shut because when he opened it, the target lined up again.

He took the shot and felt smug satisfaction sweep over him as the silhouette took a bullet to the face.

He relaxed his arm and slipped his mufflers off. Kiba didn't move away from his back, sliding his large hands up to Sasuke's biceps and squeezing softly.

"See?" he murmured, the timbre of his voice a contrasting rumble in comparison the sharp shots that had been ringing out just moments before. "I told you, all you needed to do was open your eyes properly."

Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to keep the shudder out of his respiration but failing at the last moment when he exhaled. He ducked his head, bangs covering his eyes slightly, feeling Kiba's slow controlled breathing as it slid across the back of his neck.

"Don't you think this is... a little inappropriate, Kiba?"

His partner's chest jostled his back when he laughed, the sound rich and deep. "And yet I don't see you punching me in the face. I know you would with any other guy... or girl." His hands slid up Sasuke's arms to his shoulders before cascading down his front, catching occasionally on the material of Sasuke's standard issue t-shirt as they made their way down to his stomach where they paused, kneading at the firm muscles tentatively as if testing the water.

Sasuke swallowed. "It'd be very difficult for you to do your job with a black eye and a broken nose. An incompetent hitman is no partner of mine."

He flinched at the bark of laughter Kiba burst out with, and then again when he felt those warm, kneading fingers slip underneath his shirt and splay out over his twitching abdominal muscles.

"Kiba..." he growled warningly.

"What?" Kiba's tone was innocent but Sasuke could hear the mirth in his tone. "I'm just warming that ice-cold exterior up. You need to loosen up a little, Uchiha, have some fun."

"Clearly we have very different ideas of what constitutes as 'fun'," Sasuke replied, a scowl on his face. "Now if you're quite done pissing about, I've got a shower to take before our department meeting."

Kiba sighed, releasing his captive. Sasuke immediately ducked under his arm and walked away, re-holstering his pistol.

"Yeah, you need a cold shower from the looks of things," Kiba chuckled, before dodging to the side to avoid the bullet Sasuke aimed his way. "Tch, touchy."